Former Pentagon official Michael Rubin has said Canadian Prime
Minister Justin Trudeau has made a huge mistake by alleging that India had
links with the killing of Khalistan terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar and said the
premier has not been able to back his allegations.
“Prime Minister Trudeau I think has made a huge mistake. He has
made allegations in a manner which he hasn’t been able to back. Either he was
shooting from the hip or he doesn’t have the evidence to support the
accusations he made against the government. There is something there, in which
case he needs to explain why this government was sheltering a terrorist,” the
former Pentagon official said when asked about his views on the Canadian PM’s
allegations against the Indian government.
Trudeau had accused the Indian Government inside Canada’s
Parliament of being behind the fatal shooting of Nijjar.
Nijjar, a designated terrorist in India, was gunned down outside a
Gurdwara, in a parking area in Canada’s Surrey, British Columbia on June 18.
On Friday the Canadian PM said Ottawa had shared allegations
regarding the killing of Nijjar with India weeks ago.
While addressing a joint press conference with Ukrainian President
Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Trudeau said, “In regards to India, Canada has shared the
credible allegations that I talked about on Monday. With India, we did that
many weeks ago. We are there to work constructively with India and we hope that
they engage with us so that we can get to the bottom of this very serious matter.”
Rubin, who is also a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute,
where he specializes in Iran, Turkey, and South Asia, said, “As a former
consumer of intelligence, I can say that oftentimes the intelligence we see
whether it’s a telephone intercept or something else, isn’t as black and white,
isn’t as cut and dry. I mean, certainly, that was the case with regard to the
Iraq War.”
He further added, “So when you have a situation like this, perhaps
Prime Minister Trudeau raised the issue, but there wasn’t necessarily consensus
on what he meant. And regardless, let’s not fool ourselves, Nijjar was not
simply a plumber, any more than Osama bin Laden was a construction engineer. He
had blood on his hands from multiple attacks.”
On US State Secretary Antony Blinken’s remarks that US always
stands against transnational repression, the former Pentagon official said, “We’re
actually being hypocritical if Secretary Blinken makes that statement, because
after all, what we’re talking about isn’t transnational repression. We’re
talking about transnational terrorism, and what the United States did to Qasem
Soleimani…is really no different than what India is alleged to have done in
this case.”
Blinken on Friday (local time) said Washington is “deeply concerned”
about the allegations made by Trudeau about the Indian Government’s involvement
in the killing of Nijjar.
He said US wants to see accountability and called it “important”
that the investigation runs its course and leads to the result.
“More broadly, you’ve heard me speak to this. We are extremely
vigilant about any instances of alleged transnational repression, something we
take very, very seriously. And I think it’s important more broadly for the
international system that any country that might consider engaging in such acts
not do so. So, it’s something that we’re also focused on in a much broader way,”
he added.
Meanwhile, Rubin said he is not sure that allies are convinced with
Trudeau’s theory, or that they interpret the importance of the matter to the
same degree that Justin Trudeau does.
“First of all, let’s give one analogy. When Jamal Khashoggi was
killed in Istanbul, the Turks were able to provide intelligence support right
away, which is why the world rallied around Saudi Arabia. In this case, but
Justin Trudeau again, the Canadians haven’t been able to release any definitive
intelligence and as time goes on, it raises the question about whether there’s
any truth,” he said.
He further said, “When Justin Trudeau says trust me, I wouldn’t
trust him in the best of times, all the more so against the backdrop of an
election campaign. He’s personally losing ads.”
Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi on
Thursday said that the allegations made by Canada regarding the “potential
links” of India behind the killing of Khalistani extremist Hardeep Singh Nijjar
are “Politically driven”.
“Yes, I do think there is a degree of prejudice here. They have
made allegations and taken action against them. To us, it seems that these allegations
by the government of Canada are primarily politically driven,” Bagchi said
while addressing a weekly presser.
The MEA further said no information has been shared by Canada
regarding the killing of Nijjar.
ANI
